Japan Core Machinery Orders Fall Most Since ’98 in Abe Challenge

Japan’s core machine orders fell in December the most since 1998, signaling business investment growth could slow in coming months and weigh on a recovery in the world’s third-biggest economy.

Core orders fell 15.7 percent from the previous month, the Cabinet Office said in Tokyo today, compared with the median estimate of a 4 percent decline in a Bloomberg survey of 31 economists. The fall partly reflected a pullback from a gain in November, when there was a big order that exceeded 10 billion yen ($97.6 million), according to the Cabinet Office.